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‘Jeopardy!’ Guest Host David Faber ‘Feels Closer’ To Alex Trebek from Watching Him To Prepare for Hosting Gig

David Faber is a man of many talents, and starting Monday, he will officially be able to add “Guest Host of Jeopardy!” to his resume.

Faber will come to the show beginning on Monday, August 2. He is just the latest in a long line of guest hosts after the tragic passing of Alex Trebek. The longtime host of the show died after a long battle with pancreatic cancer.

This, however, will not be Faber’s first time gracing the iconic Jeopardy! stage. As a matter of fact, he appeared on an episode of Celebrity Jeopardy! back in 2012. And he even won the Power Players match! In doing so, the award-winning journalist won $50,000 on behalf of New Visions for Public Schools. Looking back now, that was Faber’s first chance to be around the late Trebek. He explained as much in an exclusive Jeopardy! interview.

“You know, I was a contestant on Celebrity ‘Jeopardy!’,” Faber begins. “And I thankfully won. I didn’t get to spend a lot of time with Alex but he did come over and chat with us and sort of help us understand what had just happened. And he discussed the game with us.”

And now, Faber says that he has been studying Trebek to try and be the best host he can possibly be. That follows the trend of several other guest hosts who said that they, too, studied Trebek to prepare.

“But really what I actually have done is studied him in part to try and get ready for this,” Faber said. “And so, I actually feel closer to him for having done that. I watched just what a master he was. You can’t really fully appreciate it until you actually think about trying to do it. And then you try to actually do it. Oh my God. I don’t know how he did it.”

Filling the Shoes of the Late Alex Trebek on ‘Jeopardy!’ Is Not Easy

When most of us watch Jeopardy!, we are focused on trying to solve the puzzles. We are wondering how exactly we would react if we were in one of the contestant’s shoes. Perhaps we don’t give enough thought as to how challenging it might be to be the host of the show. But after watching Trebek do it so flawlessly and for so many years, he just makes it look easy.

But Faber says that’s definitely not the case.

“Well, it is challenging. And I didn’t realize quite how challenging,” Faber admits. “I watched an awful lot of Alex Trebek and I sort of started to understand it. When you think about it as in, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna stand up there and do that.’ And then when you actually come and try, it’s not easy.”

“…But that’s fun, right? That’s part of life. If you get an opportunity like that you gotta take it. And I was so happy to be given the chance.”